> Of course, the global maximum — at least for someone who wants to continue to serve that particular market — would be to stop trying to sell these people Chinese food at all
It's entirely possible that those people like bland Chinese food.
They do like it more than they like Chinese food that has Chinese-food flavors in it, but even with it taken as far as it can be toward their tastes, they still don't like it as much as they like mediocre examples of other cuisines, let alone good examples of other cuisines. To go from a 3/5 to a 4/5 in the eyes of many of these markets, there's nowhere to go but to just start selling tacos or something. (Source: my Cantonese chef uncle-in-law who lives in the midwest.)
I spent most of my life in Arizona... There's some pretty garbage tacos out there... And taco bell,. Del taco and taco dons aren't good. They're ok... Not good or authentic.
So even your counter example can have the same bias.
It's entirely possible that those people like bland Chinese food.